Chris Donlan asked if I could write something about queen sacrifice in Eurogamer this month. It was an even more fruitful topic than I expected. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-12-10-royal-blood

I can now finally confirm that yes, the Stellaris 1.4 codename ‘Kennedy’ patch is in fact named for me and not, for instance, the airport. It’s an interactive cosmic horror novelette; one of the inspirations is pretty obvious from the title; and it’s out on the afternoon of Monday 5th December! I’ve written more about it Read more

I have a monthly column now in gamesindustry.biz as well as eurogamer.net, and the deadlines coincide. So I’m writing them as companion pieces where I can. This month, they both have to do with the relationships between games and the real world. The Rhetorical Effects of System Design, and Toilets Games In Difficult Times Meanwhile, I’ve been Read more

When you hear the phrase ‘choices in games’, what do you think of? It might be this: or this: or indeed this: But equally it might be this: or this: Lots of choices! Where are you going to send your crew, what are you going to repair, should you teleport your boarding party home and Read more

Astronaut: the Best is awash with weird and innovative ideas. It’s exactly the kind of game Kickstarter was meant to support. But I think right now that’s what’s killing it on Kickstarter. It doesn’t play like anything else out there; when the comparison you reach for is ‘King of Dragon Pass, maybe?’ you know you’ve Read more

A couple of weeks ago I was dithering over to run a Kickstarter in November 2016, before my BioWare contract, or September 2017 once I’d finished at BioWare. An earlier KS would mean I would know where I stood with funding, and could get a second shot if it failed; a later KS would be Read more

I have two columns now! my Eurogamer one this week stars Kuleshov, Tolkien, Scott McCloud and a marooned insect. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-10-15-blood-in-the-gutter my GamesIndustry.biz one is the distillation of seven years’ experience dealing with a player community as an indie dev: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-10-17-the-indie-view-how-to-survive-the-internet . It’s an industry-facing column, but if you’re a gamer you might find it interesting for a view Read more

I’m speaking at three events in the next couple of months. Come along if any of this sounds interesting. On Wednesday 19th October, I’m on a panel about crowdfunding videogames at Crowdfest in Shoreditch. On Thursday 17th November, I’m on a panel about audience-driven stories at the Belfast Media Festival: along with Charles Cecil from Revolution, Read more

I’d normally do a Cultist Simulator devlog post today, but Zubmariner, the first expansion for Sunless Sea from my old comrades at Failbetter, is out this week – in an hour, in fact! So I’m going to save my CS ammo for next week, and tell you why you should pick up a copy. That said, Read more